Korean-Style Bonding Activities (7)
When I drink alcohol, that night comes flooding back.
The night before I came to this world — standing on that bridge.
There had been so much pain, so many raw memories. But the moment the soju hit my tongue, that moment returned.
The freezing wind scraping over my body. Every wound and festering sore aching in the cold. The moment I'd been driven to the edge of the world, ready to let everything go.
I dragged my stumbling body outside.
It was a night of blue moonlight.
Only the remnants of the barbecue remained. An empty lot greeted me — not a soul in sight.
Well. Quite some time had passed; everyone had clearly gone to bed.
They'd rented the entire grounds, and Kim Hyeongmin's area was a private rental on top of that. Maybe that was why I hadn't been more careful.
The night was cold.
Whether from the loneliness of a place without a single person, or from the past that kept clawing at my chest — I didn't know. My head throbbed.
Coming outside helped a little.
To end up like this after a single drink…
My body felt ready to snap at any moment.
I needed to hold back.
Then.
I sensed someone behind me.
Before I could even turn, multiple hands closed around my body.
"Mmph…!?"
I didn't know who they were.
No — I knew them, just not their names. That was more accurate.
At best, faces I'd passed in the halls?
The ones who flattered Kim Hyeongmin's group and manufactured their sense of superiority.
Especially.
For someone like me who needed to get close to Important Souls, they were the kind of people hard to remember.
They grabbed both my arms and dragged me along.
One of them had her hand over my mouth, so any sound I tried to make was smothered.
Ah.
I didn't want to go down like this.
If I could at least put up a fight…
But my legs wouldn't listen — probably from the hike with Jeong Ayeong.
Completely wiped out, you could call it?
I worried how sore the muscle knots would be when I woke up tomorrow.
"That way."
"……."
Eyes full of lust.
Closer to beasts than humans.
Disgust rose until it hung thick in the air.
"Ha. Look at those eyes."
Among them, one woman raised her fist.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
This time it wasn't Kang Hyeona's carefully non-hurting punch.
This was a woman's fist thrown with real intent.
"Hey."
"……."
Then.
A voice rang out behind the deserted building.
Not the slurred speech of someone drunk.
The voice of a woman in full possession of her faculties.
Kang Hyeona.
With the moon at her back, she began walking toward us.
It was the first time.
The first time she had disobeyed Kim Hyeongmin's orders.
Ten years she'd spent as his servant, and all it took was one boy taking root in her heart for her to make a choice like this.
Stepping out the door, Kang Hyeona was surprised at herself.
She hadn't touched a drop of alcohol, yet she was more unsettled than she'd ever been.
This was no time for anxiety.
She'd ignored Kim Hyeongmin's order not to go. She couldn't lose Han Sein on top of that.
And there, in the distance — a cluster of people.
Familiar silhouettes.
What they were doing was too grotesque to simply call "gathered."
Three women had one person restrained.
They were moving behind a building where no one would come.
Kang Hyeona's body moved fast.
She was Kim Hyeongmin's bodyguard, after all. Her physique was superior to an ordinary woman's.
Had she made it in time?
The first thing that registered was Han Sein's tearful face — and the women who'd been thinking nothing of it became bitches she wanted to kill.
"Hey."
A brief silence.
No matter how drunk they were, no matter how drunk on lust —
They were still people who could think.
Of course, deciding to rape Han Sein put them well outside the bounds of reason. But they had, in their own way, chosen what they thought was the best option.
"Y-you wanna join?"
"…Huh."
It was so absurd.
Kang Hyeona let out a laugh of pure disbelief.
But one of the hallmarks of a drunk is a complete lack of social awareness.
Taking her hollow laugh for amusement, the woman kept running her mouth.
"Y-you go first! We'll go after…"
How about it! Tempting, right?
Faces full of desire.
And.
Kang Hyeona's response was ice-cold.
"You crazy bitches."
"……."
Kang Hyeona approached slowly.
They had the numbers, but every one of them flinched and started backing away.
Anyone who'd heard the rumors about her — or seen her fight — couldn't help but be afraid.
They were only fellow students, but Kang Hyeona's reputation came not from her fighting skill, but from her cruelty.
"We're past the Juvenile Act age…"
"Eek…"
Han Sein's body was released.
The three scrambled away as if fleeing.
But what they'd failed to account for was this:
The back of a building no one would come to was a dead end, walled in.
She didn't say you go first or anything of the sort.
More than any words, she wanted to kill those fucking bitches.
Kang Hyeona raised her hand and cracked the nearest bitch across the face.
Innate strength.
Her exceptional build and power, beyond other women, was more than enough to break a student.
"Guh, ghk… kkh…"
Her lip swelled in an instant.
Kang Hyeona seized her by the hair with one hand, locking her in place.
Then the palm came down again and again.
The force landed more on the jaw than the cheek, so the woman couldn't even resist properly — she went limp.
"D-don't come closer. I'll kill you."
"Useless bitches."
Kang Hyeona's mouth opened.
Her footsteps never stopped.
The steps toward the remaining two, the raised right hand — made it clear what she intended.
But.
There was nowhere to run.
Unable even to resist, they waited for the violence approaching.
Kang Hyeona opened her mouth and put their situation into words.
"Cowardly bastards. Cozy back here, huh? You mess with people and nothing comes back at you."
"Ugh…"
—Crack! Crack! Crack!
"You've hit people before, but never been hit yourselves, right?"
Kang Hyeona's teeth ground together.
The words weren't only for them.
Everything she was saying was for herself as well.
Thinking of the past days when she'd submitted to reality, thought only of escape, and obediently obeyed.
"Fucking bitches."
"P-please stop… I-I'm sorry…"
"Don't give me that shit."
Only one left now.
Whether from the instinct to survive, she dropped straight to her knees.
But.
This time Kang Hyeona used her feet instead of her hands.
Even greater force.
Fewer strikes, but the damage was stronger than all the previous hits combined.
A soccer kick flying toward the face.
It wasn't an action she couldn't take responsibility for.
Was there no settlement money?
No.
Was she afraid of the law?
Even less so.
"Fuck, the smell."
Less than five minutes.
That was how long it took for the women who'd jumped Han Sein to piss themselves and pass out.
No more attachment.
Kang Hyeona turned.
She looked up at the goddamn sky.
Not a cloud in sight — the moon poured its blue light over the world.
And she took a step.
Leaving the women collapsed against the wall, she walked toward Han Sein, who had somehow slid down to sit against it.
He was in the dark.
The building's shadow blocked even the blue moonlight. If her eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness, she wouldn't have found him.
Kang Hyeona looked down at him.
In the dark, red eyes bloomed open.
She was the one who looked away first.
She'd run to save him, and she had saved him.
But she knew she was no different from those women lying there.
Yes.
This was shame.
And guilt.
The words that had spilled from her mouth had meant herself as well.
There was no longer any reason to face him.
The best thing would be to walk past him under the name of consideration — to ignore him and leave.
She turned.
Just as she was about to leave that place—
"I…"
"……."
Kang Hyeona's feet stopped.
She turned her head toward the source of the voice.
"Help me up. My legs won't work…"
He was probably sincere.
But Kang Hyeona found the situation almost funny.
Did he not even consider that she might hurt him the way they had?
There was nothing else — if anything, she'd been the one who'd tormented him more directly.
So why was he reaching out again, asking for help?
As if finding it ridiculous, Kang Hyeona crouched down — dropped to one knee.
The blue moonlight that had wrapped around her spilled onto the ground.
In the darkness, Kang Hyeona met Han Sein's eyes.
"Thank you…"
A word of gratitude.
That was what burst the emotions Kang Hyeona had been accumulating.
Like a balloon popping.
Her sharp voice rang through the dark.
"Aren't you even scared of me?"
"……."
"Fuck, there's not a single thing different between me and those bitches."
Han Sein stayed silent.
Kang Hyeona began to pour out her rage.
"I'm the one who hit you, aren't I? And you're thanking me? Fuck, say something that makes sense. You should hate me and still not have enough left over. What position are you in to say thank you?"
Haa, haa…
Excited breathing echoed softly.
Having vented her feelings, Kang Hyeona couldn't look at him properly.
She kept her head bowed, staring only at the cold dirt.
Han Sein was silent.
But he slowly moved his body.
His trembling legs looked precarious, and noticing that, Kang Hyeona supported him without thinking.
His body rose slowly.
From the shadows behind the building, from the darkness that had covered him, Han Sein emerged.
What lit his face now was no longer darkness, but blue moonlight.
And carefully, a hand rose and touched Kang Hyeona's cheek.
"Because you're crying."
"……."
This time it was Kang Hyeona's mouth that closed.
Lips sealed tight.
Her eyes held Han Sein.
Beneath the blue moonlight, wearing a faint smile —
She faced the brilliantly, brilliantly radiant face of Han Sein.
"When you hit me, when you yelled, when you cursed me, and… even now."
A breath, a pause.
Lips dyed in moonlight opened.
Kang Hyeona's eyes trembled.
Han Sein's words seized her heart.
The actions of past days she'd wanted to avoid but had to commit —
He was whispering them.